CHICAGO, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CIBC Bank USA received the 2017 Corporate Ambassador Award at the annual Chicago Consular Corps Gala on December 8 at the Hilton Chicago. The award honors a company that has helped to raise Chicago's profile as a premier global business destination...

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After losing their cars during Hurricane Harvey and enduring daily transportation challenges, Harris County Department of Education Head Start employee Bahiyyah Rashed and parent Vanessa Zuniga are receiving a special gift from Bates Collision Centers: the gift of transportation.

Head Start and Houston-area MSO Bates Collision Centers are giving away vehicles to two moms who will be recognized with the Responsible Parenting Award. Owners Lee and Leila Bates have made this annual giveaway a priority because they recognize the sacrifices parents often make in order to provide for their children.

“We’re fueling brighter futures,” said Lee Bates, president of Bates Collision Centers. “Responsible parenting is so important and it’s a big job in every family. But it becomes even harder when all the pieces aren’t in place, like transportation.”

This is the 19th year that the Harris County Department of Education Head Start and Bates Collision Centers have partnered in the annual giveaway. The donations bring their total to 34 vehicles.

Rashed and Zuniga were nominated by Head Start Center managers. Bates employees donate time to work on the cars and help fill them with gifts, and other community members and businesses donate gas, insurance and materials needed to rehab the cars.

Since losing her car during Hurricane Harvey, Bahiyyah Rashed has been sharing a vehicle with her mother.

Leila Bates, vice president of Bates Collision Centers, said she and her husband are proud of their employees who continue to supply time and resources to families they have yet to meet.

Harris County Department of Education Head Start Senior Director Venetia Peacock believes the partnership is particularly important this year as parents face transportation issues in the wake of Harvey.

“We continue to be thankful for our partnership with Bates Collision Centers,” said Peacock. “These cars make a difference in the lives of families who are already committed to making the world a better place for their children.”

Bahiyyah Rashed is a valued teacher at Tidwell Head Start, a single mother of two sons – Deon, 10, and Daveon, 9 – and guardian to niece Kelsi, 7. Since losing her vehicle during Hurricane Harvey, Rashed has been sharing a vehicle with her mother. While the car has been a blessing, it has occasional mechanical issues and can be unreliable while trying to attend school, work and many extracurricular activities.

Vanessa Zuniga is the single parent of Nathan, 4, and employed full-time. Zuniga lost her vehicle during Hurricane Harvey and shares rides with friends and family. She begins her day early and waits for extended times to be picked up from work. She also relies on family members for Nathan’s school rides.

The seemingly inexorable rise of bitcoin, the untraceable digital currency exploding in value, has created endless excited comparisons between its past prices and up-to-the-minute valuation. Early adopters, including those who were given once valueless bitcoin for free or in exchange for a few bucks or useless things like loofahs, are revered like lottery winners. Hooray for them! Less hooray for those regretful schmucks who unknowingly evaded wealth giving up their bitcoin for a few bucks or a loofah. In the midst of this frenzy, a McLaren 720S has popped up for sale in Atlanta for “only” 25 bitcoin.

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Depending on when you acquired your bitcoin, 25 of them is either worth a sandwich or quite an overpayment over the $285,000 list price of a brand-new 720S. (As of this morning, one bitcoin was valued at about $17,000, so 25 theoretically would be worth $425,000.) The guy who transferred a few hundred bitcoin to his college roommate in exchange for skunked weed three years ago probably just jumped off a building. In any event, you needn’t own whole bitcoins—you can acquire fractions of them. In order to set up an appointment to see this McLaren, for example, the seller is asking for 0.00001 bitcoin (about 17 cents). That might be a mistake on the seller’s part, but none of this made-up-money stuff makes sense anyway.

The McLaren itself is claimed to have 750 miles on the odometer and is equipped with blacked-out exterior trim, the optional sport exhaust system, and striking Azores orange paint. Provided this isn’t a scam, it could be another plot point in bitcoin’s story arc to be shared excitedly by bitcoin holders. For a bitcoin’d buyer, the car could be a steal tainted with regret over having handed off a rapidly appreciating currency to the seller. Or it could go the other way. Bitcoin’s value has been volatile. Perhaps next month, the currency will totally collapse, in which case, even if you recently paid thousands of dollars per bitcoin to join the party, buying this McLaren will have turned out to be a good decision. The McLaren surely will still exist, and surely others will still confer value on it, which is the only thing currently propping up bitcoin.

Compared to the rest of the United States, California is on the bleeding edge of government-appointed environmentalism. When the Trump administration suggested reexamining Obama-era fuel economy and emissions standards, The Golden State was the first to complain, saying it would not be adjusting its goals just because the rest of the country may. It also has […]